Camelina: Planting date and method effects on stand establishment and seed yield

There has been keen interest in camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) in recent years due to the unique fatty acid composition of the seed oil for human and animal consumption and, more importantly, the value of the seed oil to provide “green energy” to fuel commercial and military aircraft. The objective of our research was to evaluate several planting dates and two planting methods for camelina stand establishment and seed yield. Field experiments were conducted for three years at four distinct rainfed agro-environments in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Average crop-year precipitation at the sites during the three years was: Lind WA, 228 mm; Pendleton OR, 421 mm; Moscow ID (one year only), 760 mm; and Corvallis OR, 993 mm. Camelina was planted on an average of five dates at each site (n = 55) from early October to mid April at a rate of 6 kg/ha by either drilling seed at a shallow depth or broadcasting seed on the soil surface. Although camelina has excellent cold hardiness, the best plant stands were achieved with the late-winter and early-spring plantings. Four divergent planting date yield responses across sites were: no yield differences at Lind; increased yield with later planting dates at Pendleton; reduced yield with later plantings at Moscow (one year data); and a curvilinear response at Corvallis with the lowest yields from plantings in early fall and those after March 1 and highest yields from late-fall and mid-winter plantings. Both drilling and broadcast were effective for planting camelina with no overall advantage of either method. Seed yields ranged from <100 kg/ha during an extreme drought year at Lind to 2900 kg/ha at Moscow. Averaged across the four Pacific Northwest agro-environments in this study, we recommend: (i) late February–early March as the best overall planting date because of optimum stands and seed yield and having effective control of winter-annual broadleaf weeds with herbicide applied just prior to planting, and (ii) the broadcast method of planting as it generally equaled or slightly exceeded drilling for plant stand establishment and seed yield and can be accomplished more quickly at less expense.

► Camelina planting date and method experiments were conducted for three years at four sites in the Pacific Northwest USA.
► Seed yields ranged from <100 to 2900 kg/ha.
► Data from 55 planting dates using two planting methods over 10 site years show that: (i) camelina can be successfully sown over a wide range of planting dates from early fall to early spring; (ii) both drilling and broadcasting were effective methods for planting camelina; (iii) broadcasting seed with air-driven applicators is less expensive and requires less time to plant equivalent land area compared to drilling and; (iv) late February-early March was the best overall planting time.